If you want to lose weight, there are a couple key questions to ask yourself:

Why? Make sure you figure out exactly why you want to lose the weight- it should be for you and no one else.
How much? Don't sabotage your efforts by holding yourself to an “ideal” weight based upon what others look like or what you looked in your “younger” years. Set a weight that is realistic, healthy and comfortable for you.
How fast? This is a big one- the slower you lose the weight, the easier it will be to maintain. Losing 2-3 pounds per week is the fastest you should go. Any faster than that and you are losing water, as well as not eating enough calories to maintain your body's protein stores.
How? When it comes to weight loss, lifestyle changes are what works- not a diet! Though progressing slowly can be discouraging, setting short-term, achievable goals are the best bet for achieving and maintaining your weight loss.

Tips For Losing

Losing weight is a matter of burning more calories than you eat. Be careful though, if you cut your calories back too far you could send your body into “survival” mode (which could cause your body to store what you eat as fat). Do not eat less than 1,500 calories per day without the supervision of a registered dietitian nutritionist and physician.

Consider:

How many calories you currently eat- If you are overeating calories, cutting daily calories back by 300-500 is an option. If you are eating enough calories, you may just need to add in exercise.
How active you are- If you can do it, exercise is the perfect second arm to a healthy lifestyle and weight loss plan. You don't have to become a marathon runner, but the more you move, the more you lose. Plus, the more calories you burn, the more calories you can eat!

Keep Track

Before making any changes to the foods you choose or the activities you do, keep track of a typical week worth of meals and activities on MyPlate SuperTracker. This will allow you to record and analyze your current behaviors.

Remember

Any attempt for weight loss can only go so far without having healthy lifestyle behaviors overall. Learn more about meeting your sleep, basic nutrition, exercise and stress relief needs in our Catch Your Zzzzzzz's, Nutrition 101, Get Moving and Stress Relief sections.

Click here to view Catch Your Zzzzzzz's, our new page on BigY.com for sleep
Click here to view Nutrition 101, our new page on BigY.com for nutrition 101
Click here to view Get Moving, our new page on BigY.com for physical activity
Click here to view Stress Relief, our new page on BigY.com for stress management